Auburn Visit

A couple of weekends ago we traveled over to Auburn to spend time with some amazing people, cheer on the Tigers, and introduce Alder to Dr. Wayne Alderman. It was a wonderful time with truly amazing families. The Aldermans have three wonderfully reserved boys, Mary is a joy to be around, and as always, Wayne is just a great man. We stayed with them and it was great for the family to get to know Alder. Before the game we tailgated with several families that attend the church Jared and I went to when we were at Auburn. We got to see Dr. Doyle (one of the pastors that married us) and his lovely wife. The two of them seem not to age and only gain more joy as they get older. Alder loved the noise, the craziness that is game day, and I loved his borrowed outfit (thanks Amanda!). After church on Sunday, we ate dinner at the Godwins' house. Their kids have gotten so big and it was fun to go around and ask each one their favorite things about life right now. Very dynamic and engaging kids. We drove away feeling refreshed and reminded of so many key truths that can sometimes be so easy to forget. War Eagle!

Beach Pictures

So I have finally made two slide shows of beach pictures. I figured out how to download more than one picture at a time and so that has revolutionized blogging for me. I went a little crazy and downloaded almost all of the beach pictures we took.
Sorry. It will probably get boring after awhile.
Oh, to be back at the beach!
By the way, you'll see that Alder had these sunglasses on in a lot of the pictures. He kind of looks like one of those special basketball players that wear the glasses and the bands when they play. Well anyways, we had to get them for him because after the first two days of being out in the sun we realized that he was having an "allergic" reaction to the sun. He would break out into a horrible rash on his face, snot would pour from his nose because he could not stop sneezing and so on. Once we got him the glasses, he was great. It was funny to see him with them on though.

Coughing Hugs

So Jared and I are stumped. Alder has started this really odd thing where when either one of us cough while we hold Alder and specifically when we do so in his nursery, he buries his head into our neck and breathes really deep and slow. And Alder will stay like this for as long as a minute. He will sometimes do it in other areas of the house, but never outside. Is it that he feels scared that that sound is coming from us? Does he think that it means sleepy time? Who knows? But it is really sweet though for him to snuggle up to you. I catch Jared making himself cough so lil Alder will snuggle with him. Sweet but kind of cruel if Alder does it b/c he is scared. I caught it on video. Sorry it was late afternoon and the nursery lights were not on. I hope you can see it alright.

Beach Bike Riding

We had the amazing privilege of going to the beach a couple of weeks ago for 8 days for basically FREE. We have these wonderful friends who own a condo close to Seaside and have so graciously let us go down there the last two years, otherwise we would not be able to go b/c vacation is SOOOO expensive. It was just the three of us. The time was precious and particularly for Jared and Alder. The two of them got to spend just a lot of uninterrupted time together which was wonderful and seemed to make up for a lot of lost time. The weather was perfect, not too hot, sunny everyday, and there was a perfect cool breeze everyday in the air. My parents actually were down in Sandestin around the same time with their closest friends and so over the few days we overlapped we got to spend time with them. It really felt like a vacation when we ate out with them a few times and my gracious Dad got the bill. Could it get any better than this? I will post pictures so check back, but this video I took of Alder and Jared is of them riding the bike back from the beach to the condo. I was driving the car with all the (ridiculous amount of) beach gear in the hatch and video taping. Yikes!

Alder and Ally for the first time the other day were actually playing together on the front porch while I was out there talking with our painter. They played and played tug of war with some paper bag and I thought it would not really last long enough for me to run inside and get my flip video, but they kept playing and I was able to capture the last part of it. By the time I was recording though Ally had had enough and wanted to take the bag for herself and shred it to pieces in the yard. Of course whenever you get your camera or video camera out children/pets are inevitably more interested in you and the black thing in your face. Anyways, thought it was funny. Ally is great with children and always has been, but with Alder she is especially gentle and kind.

Alder in a Box

The other day we took pictures of Alder for a moving/birth announcement card to send out to friends and family. Alder absolutely loved being in the box with all the paper. Who knew a cardboard box and some paper was so exciting. We just picked one for the card, but thought all of them were pretty cute.

What a Difference

As I went back through our videos taken of Alder since he was born in January, I could not believe the difference. He has grown so quickly and developed in so many wonderful and engaging ways. This first video was taken when we was just a week old. He cannot control his arms and looks just so confused by the world around him. I want to cry just looking at him at that sweet newborn stage. As he grows, I miss those early days but fall quickly in love with all the new milestones he reaches, the person I am getting to know and the excitement he has for all that is around him.



Alder at week one.


Alder at 8 months


He loves his walker and while cruising in it the other day he found our antique and very delicate lawyer bookcase. He stopped, studied (as he does all things) before touching it, reached right for the knob on the second shelf, and would lift it and drop it, lift it and drop it. He did this with great caution. Alder amazed us at how many times he did this over and over again. I tried to capture it on the flip video this morning, but as sensitive as Mr. Man is to his surroundings he made a beeline right for me AND the camera.

Sacked Out

Please do not call Children's Services on me. I had laid him at the top of the pack 'n play with one blanket on him and the light blue one was at the foot of the bed. He obviously turned himself horizontal across the pack 'n play and pulled all of his blankets up to his face. Its just amazing that babies do all of this in their sleep and do not wake up.

My two front teeth

Alder has cut his two front teeth and he looks just so funny with them. They came at a great cost though. Last week and the week before Alder was just miserable. Because he was teething and was so congested, he got a double ear infection. Oh, he was pitiful. When Alder cut his bottom two teeth back in June he was congested then, but would just cry and be inconsolable. It was just like that this time around too. He would just cry and cry. Nothing would make it better and he would not even nurse (honestly... it really wears you out). This picture was taken one morning after a crying spell and a lot of tugging on his ears. I think you can tell that his face is all blotchy, but I was able to capture a smile because every time I get out the camera he smiles. I sat with him on the chair and we watched a little baby video snuggled up with each other. It was so sweet and he sat there as he watched patting my arm. That made all the bad naps, sleepless nights, and fussiness worth it. By the way, Alder's two front teeth are seemingly HUGE and every morning the teeth seem two times bigger than they were when I put him to bed. Funniest thing.

Favorite Activity with Dada

I took this video before we moved but this "activity" continues to be Alder's favorite thing to do with Dada. The higher the better. Such a boy already.
*Jared is careful yet the 10 foot ceilings in our new house are extremely tempting.

Such a Big Boy

The Mountains

Now that I am finally caught up into August the month has just now passed. It was a very busy and chaotic month with a move, constant workers in the new house, and settling in but we were able to get away for a week with my family to the mountains. We have loved going up to the mountains summer after summer. The days are filled with sunning on the dock, tubing, boat rides, reading, long mountain walks, cool breezes, and sweet family time. I do not have a picture of all of us simple because when we go we never leave the house really except for the grocery store and so there was no one around to take a family shot. Oh well. Enjoy!

Lee and Charlie's Wedding

In late July I was privileged to be apart of Lee Ade and Charlie Stout's wedding. These two I have know for the longest time. Charlie and I grew up down the street from each other and Lee and I have been dear friends since 7th grade. Lee and Charlie dated almost 10 years before getting married on July 19th. For most of those years it was a long distance relationship and I think all of us that know them are so amazed at their committment to one another. It was a great weekend seeing old friends and Lee was a most beautiful bride. I enjoyed the laughter, stories, and hearing everyone's hopes for the future. It is a special thing... those relationships from high school. I feel blessed that so many of my close friends now are ones that I made back then.

The rest of July

4th of July and Swimming Fun

Happy Birthday to Wilder Wingfield

So as I slowly catch up to all summertime news, I have eventually gotten to my post announcing the birth of Wingfield cousin numbr 8.
Wilder Morton Wingfield was born on July 1 and is absolutely precious.
Alder and Wilder (or as we like to call them the Walders) are only 5 1/2 months apart. I am sure these two will be big buds. Congrats Joseph and Beth. He's a cutie.


Alder, 5 1/2 months Wilder, 2 weeks Teddy, 22 months
You can catch more of these two cute Wingfield cousins at bethjosephwingfield.blogspot.com

Cheek Kisses

I just had to say that I love Alder and love kissing his cheeks. I often want to just eat dose yittle cheeks because day are soooo precious. Do you see those cheeks? Love them.

Not so much...

We have been blessed to receive these two new toys for Alder. I had great hope that like so many of our other friends' babies Alder would love entertaining himself with either jumping or spinning around the exersaucer. Well... failed expectations can really disappoint. He likes each toy for no more than 10 minutes. What he could do for hours is be held my me. He loves that. I love it too its just that I can only accomplish one-handed tasks.I keep trying them a little bit each day. I am still hoping that he'll love them eventually but for now I should really enjoy Alder's desire for me to hold him because that is sure to only last so long.

Monkey Man

Our Little Clown

Summatime Sweets

A few weekends ago Alder had not napped well all day and Jared I were trying to get some stuff done in preparation for the move. So I pulled out an organic teething biscuit and let Alder experience the messy sweetness. (I did not leave him alone on the wall). He loved it, was covered all in it, and Ally for sure became his new best friend. I did not have to worry about trying to clean Alder up. Ally took care of that part for me.

Giggles

Alder laughs a lot these days. Its true what they say about hearing your child laugh or having them smile at you-it makes it all (the sleepless nights, poopy diapers, long days with no naps) worth it.

Yum Yum !

The day Alder turned 5 months (June 17th) he had his first taste of real food. He had given me enough signs that we needed to move onto solids. I was hoping to wait until he was 6 months but he's a hungry boy. Alder took to it very quickly but would still choose nursing over rice cereal any day. What baby wouldn't?

Happy Belated Father's Day

I am extremely late on my posts so I will be playing catch up over the next few weeks. This was Jared's Father's Day gift. I took this picture of him in Jared's shirt (thanks Jen for the idea so many years ago) and plan on doing so every year until Alder is grown. If you want to know our little boy this is him. This look he has captures exactly him. He and I are both so blessed to have Jared. Jared is a wonderful wonderful man with amazing integrity and character. He is honest. He provides and protects. He never complains and loves and cherishes both me and Alder. We love you Jared!

Funny Dada

On Saturday morning Jared got Alder rolling with laughter for about 10 minutes by making this sound you'll hear on the video. I was crying by the end of it b/c I was laughing so hard. Alder's laughter is just the best sound ever. Later that day though we had gone for a walk and wore out our little boy and so Alder kept falling asleep while I was nursing him. Jared thought he would try to help keep him awake with that noise that made Alder laugh earlier in the day. As you can see Alder still thought it was funny, but not funny enough to wake all the way up.

My Boys

Alder is never really too sure of the shower, but he is sure he loves his Daddy. I have loved seeing the two of them get to know each other. Alder honestly smiles more excitedly and lovingly at Jared than anyone else and after such a difficult time for us with Jared being gone so much that is a real gift from God.

Graduation/Memorial Weekend

This past weekend was crazy. We drove to Chattanooga to see Uncle Houston graduate from high school. We are so proud. He will be attending Ole Miss next year. Alder's cousin Josie, who is 14 months older than him, was staying at Yaya's house and we got to spend some time with her. Josie was so sweet and gentle with Alder is was really neat to watch. She loves babies and you can already tell she is going to be a great mother someday. Then we came back to Birmingham to be together as a family for Memorial Day. Jared desperately wanted to cook something over a fire and so he resurrected the old outdoor grill thingy in our backyard. He and Alder roasted a fine pork tenderloin and a lone hot dog as an appetizer. The two of them look halirious, dirty, and very manly. Oh the joys of summertime.

Swimming Fun

Happy Boy at 4 months

Chattanooga

*Picture of Chattanooga from Point Park. The Tennessee River snakes through the city so beautifully and mountains surround it on all sides.


We spent the first two weeks of May in Chattanooga. It was a wonderful time with grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends.
Alder has really turned a corner. He has become a more happy and content baby with such a personality. He has come out of his "newborness" by taking longer naps during the day, sleeping better at night, enjoying his awake time during the day more, and even giggling some. Alder has started a new thing of getting red in the face, grunting really loud and straightening his arms and legs all at once. He also bites down on his gums and with his lips thinly opened blows bubbles out the corner of his mouth. He looks very funny doing this as well as when he sticks his tongue out and bites down on it. Can we say teething? I believe this little boy will be very full of life and will probably spend some serious time in the time out chair someday.



Alder at 3 and a half months

Shopping Spree

Alder and his friend Winston went shopping this past week together. They found some really great deals on diapers, wipes, toothpaste, toilet paper, and paper towels at Target. Winston was kind enough to share his seat with Alder after he got tired of being in the wrap. Winston gave him a lot of love pinches on his leg and Alder just smiled at all the babble that Winston was telling him.